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What does it look like to build your life on the words of Jesus? You will like the answer.
Welcome to No Compromise Radio Ministry, and it's Mike Abendroff, and I'm reading text now for my daughter. You can write me, Mike, at nocompromiseradio .com. Don't forget, two new books. One is out right now, Jesus and Cancer, a condensed version, a little pamphlet booklet that you can give to people who are going to go have chemotherapy and just need to sit and read something encouraging.
That's Jesus and Cancer. That's on amazon .com. If you want to order a bunch, you can email me, and I'll give you a discount, 40 discount. And what else? Law, Gospel, a Primer. That should be out soon.
Maybe by the time you hear this sermon, this message, this podcast, remember, we don't.
Call them pods here.
I'm on the pod. I started off doing radio, and then it turned into podcast only. So it was radio and podcast. We'd do the radio show here at WVNE 760 on your AM dial here in Worcester, Mass., and we didn't use this music.
We used Mirror in the Bathroom, right?
Remember?
I probably like Mirror in the Bathroom better, but this has got some, this has got noco written.
All over it.
I agree. I agree. Today, a little more talk about the centurion.
Scratch that.
Jesus and the centurion. What does it look like to build your life on the words of Jesus? That's what happens at the end of Luke chapter six, remember? The foundation on the rock. If you hear Jesus's words and do them, that is faith in the Lord Jesus, and then of course, there'll be fruits and evidences later as you have the law to guide you.
That's like building your life on a good foundation. So what does it look like to build your foundation, your life on the rock? And the answer is Luke chapter seven, one to 10. Here's a centurion, Gentile, leader, soldier, and he builds his life on the rock because he goes to Jesus through his, through the elders and through the friends, his friends.
And he just says, you say the word and my servant is healed. A kind and gentle centurion, I think, certainly a man's man, but concerned for his servant. Not many people had concern for their servants slash slaves, but this man did.
And he just says, say the word, I'm building my life on your word and taking, uh, your person and your work, uh, into consideration. And so I know who you are and you just say the right thing and I know he's going to be healed.
I love Psalm 107 verses 19 through 22. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble and he delivered them from their distress. He sent out his word and healed them and delivered them from their destruction.
Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man and let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving and tell of his deeds in songs of joy. We have, of course, the old Testament talking about the proclamation and the word doing its work.
And this man, the centurion, he says that Jesus is Lord, Kurios. He has authority. He's the sovereign one. He is a God incarnate. And the Roman soldier knows a little bit about authority. And here he's standing before the one who has the ultimate authority.
And what I mean by him standing, that's of course, he sent his, the elders and then later the friends. Therefore, I did not presume to come to you, Luke 7, 7, but say the word and let my servant be healed.
For I, too, am a man set under authority with soldiers under me. And I say to one, go, and he goes and another come and he comes and to my servant, do this and he does it. So Jesus, I recognize your lordship and I just would ask that you would please do it.
Jesus said earlier in the Sermon on the Plain, the previous chapter, why do you call me Lord and do not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, he's building his foundation on the rock.
Here's a man, the centurion, who's building his life on the rock, Jesus's words. And he says, you just say the word. I know Jesus, you're in a system that's kind of like mine, if I could use that language.
There are people that are underneath this centurion and he's in the Roman system. And if you disobey the emperor, you're disobeying the Roman soldier, you're disobeying the emperor. And Jesus, of course, is sent by the father, under the father's authority, and he is speaking.
Jesus is speaking. And if you're going to defy the son, you're going to defy the father. And here Jesus thinks about this man and says something. I wonder what he's going to say. Jesus, of course, has divine authority and he has authority over sin, death, hell.
He can forgive sins. He can heal people. He can do whatever he wants. If I, the centurion, can speak authoritatively, how much more can you, Jesus, because you're.
Lord?
This is not just sir, this is Lord. I, the centurion, know that you, Jesus, can heal because you're God, sent by the father. Understanding that, the centurion says, just say the word. And I love it that this tough, battle-weathered soldier notices in Jesus his lordship.
These days we have kind of crazy patriarchalism and uber-macho Christianity and you can't let your wife vote, all these other kind of weird things. I want my focus to be on Jesus, the king, proclaiming Jesus, the king.
This soldier recognized Jesus was truly a man, the ultimate man, authority, power, strength, not some, I don't know, emaciated, little, skinny, effeminate Jesus. I think Jesus was the true man, don't you?
I think he was the perfect man, don't you? I think the centurion recognized that very thing. I think the centurion saw Jesus as the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. I think the centurion saw Jesus as the one by whom all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities.
I think that the centurion saw Jesus, that he created all things through him and for.
Him.
I think the centurion knew that Jesus is before all things and in Jesus all things hold together. I think the centurion saw that Jesus is the head of the body, the church, he's the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
If you didn't see all those details, certainly what I'm reading to you now, Colossians, is.
True.
In Jesus, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of the cross. Luke wants you to see what the centurion sees, right?
That's what we're after. Theophilus, you recognize it. See, the centurion recognizes it. And now for us, we read it, we should be recognizing it as well. He wants us to see those very things. He wants us to realize that we have the God-man standing before us.
And with the Nicene Creed, we believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, begotten from the Father before all ages. God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made.
Of the same essence of the Father, through him all things were made. How did Jesus respond? What was Jesus' response? And when Jesus heard these things, Jesus, the only time now we're going to see what Jesus did positively, a positive thing, he marveled at him.
And turning to the crowd that followed him, said, I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith. And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant. Well, there was a bishop, his name was Bishop Hall, and he said, what can be more wonderful than to see Christ wonder?
That's a good phrase. I've not found such faith. I don't particularly like that translation. It means great. It means huge quantity, vast quantity, huge number. Therefore, since we're surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, I know, I know.
Only two times this word is used for Jesus, one marveling at people's lack of faith and one here for this man's faith. In Mark 6, he marvels at their unbelief. Here he marvels at his belief. Marveling at someone's faith, I mean, what would Jesus marvel at?
A birth of a child, beautiful sunsets, good catch of fish, a taste of freshly made bread, best wine served last, temple, beautiful temple, marble, gold, some kind of really nicely built synagogue. He marveled at his faith.
I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith. Not his hard work, not his earnestness, not his devotion, not the way he treats his servants, not his humility, not his character, not that he was building synagogues for the Jews, nothing based on his works, his good deeds, his good outweighs his bad.
Not even Israel. This man doesn't probably have any, you know, mastery of the Old Testament, but he's heard about Jesus, and he thinks Jesus is the one. Now, Jesus has commended faith in the scriptures, but just not to this extent.
He doesn't marvel. He says, take heart, daughter, your faith has made you well, and he commends the faith of the woman. He says, O woman, great is your faith, be it done for you as you desire, and her daughter was healed instantly.
He sometimes on the negative side will say, O ye of little faith. Sometimes the disciples say, would you please increase our faith? Jesus has said negatively, O faithless and perverse generation. But here he marvels.
He marvels, and the word is just a huge amount of faith. Now, it's fascinating to me that you think about this, and Jesus accepts the title Lord. He accepts that the centurion knows that he's powerful and can heal, that he has authority.
And Jesus does not say what Peter says in Acts chapter 3 when Peter is used by God to.
Heal.
When Peter saw that he addressed the people, men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us as though by our own power, our piety, we made him walk? But everything that the centurion says about Jesus and assumes about Jesus and knows about Jesus from his authority to his healing power to his lordship, Jesus accepts it.
Jesus accepts worship because he's the God man. The centurion has faith. He's building his life on the words of Jesus. And you know, I love acronyms for faith. F, financially secure, A, affluent, I, income rising, T, tax sheltered, and H, home paid for.
You want answers?
I want the truth.
That's what I want.
No, our acronym is CAT, K-A-T, the only cat we like here, no compromise radio. Knowledge, assent, and trust. Thomas Brooks said, he that believeth on the Lord Jesus shall be saved, be his sins never so many.
But he that believeth not on the Lord Jesus must be damned, neither his sins be ever so.
Few.
God requires perfection, and so it's going to take you to trust in the perfect one. And that perfect one, of course, would be then your sin bearer, and Jesus would be raised from the dead. John Trapp said, it is the nature of faith to believe God upon his bare word.
It will not beset sense, it cannot beset reason. It both can and will beset faith, for I have the promise of it.
John Trapp.
Now we at No Compromise Radio and Bethlehem Bible Church, we have 1689 London Baptist Confession, Second London Baptist Confession, has our statement of faith, and it says this about faith. The principal acts of saving faith have immediate relation to Christ, accepting, receiving, and resting upon him alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life by virtue of the covenant of grace.
This faith, although it be in different stages, and may be weak or strong, yet it is in the least degree of it different in the kind or nature of it, as is all other saving grace, from the faith and common grace of temporary believers.
And therefore, though it may be many times assailed and weakened, yet it gets the victory, growing up in many to the attainment of a full assurance through Christ, who is both the author and finisher of our faith.
See when you're reading other things and you try to speak, that's just what happens. Great statement of faith there on faith. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life, John 6, 47. Acts 16, 30, after he brought them out, he said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
And they said, Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, you and your household. Romans 3, 26, for the demonstration, I say, of his righteousness at the present time, that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
He trusted Jesus. Equivalent terms of faith, as the statement of the confession said, receiving Jesus, but as many as received him. The soul that on Jesus has learned, Spencer, you can take that out too.
The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose, I will not, I will not desert to his foes. That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, I'll never, no never, no never forsake. You flee to God for refuge, as Hebrew says, you come to him if you're weak and heavy laden as Matthew says.
Jesus marveled at this man. He marveled at his faith. He was amazed. He had wonder. It's a marveling of admiration, some say. It means to be struck with astonishment. That's what the word marvel means, struck with astonishment.
Now a lot of times is what the crowd marvels at Jesus. Jesus cast out the demon, the mute man spoke, and the crowds marveled saying never was anything like this seen in Israel. Paul later writes to the Galatian churches, I am astonished, I'm marveling that you're so quickly deserting him who called you into the grace of Christ and are turning to a different.
Gospel.
And the men marvel saying, what sort of man is this that even the winds and sea obey him? So if the crowd wondered when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking and the blind seeing, and they glorified the God of Israel, Matthew 22, when they heard it, they marveled.
Calvin said, wonder or amazement cannot apply to God for it arises out of what is new and unexpected, but it might exist in Christ for he had clothed himself with our flesh and with human affections. Now sometimes I'll read things like, you know, how can Jesus be amazed if he was God?
Well, of course, Jesus is the God man. One writer wrote this, Jesus's amazement was due to his self-imposed limitations upon his omniscience in his state of humility. Warning, warning, warning, do not believe that.
Do not.
And how long have you been on that medication?
Do not be on some canonic heresy medication. Do not. I have so many presets here that I don't use, I better start using them again. We see the true humanity of Jesus here, do we not? He is marveling. Obviously Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and he got hungry and he slept and he cried and he agonized and he was amazed.
He marveled. Jesus marveled for us and for our salvation. He came down from heaven. He became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and was made man and was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate.
He suffered, he was buried, the third day he rose again according to the scriptures. Truly man because of the incarnation. Now Matthew's account gives us a little bit more. Sometimes Matthew abbreviates but at the end of this he gives us a little bit more.
When Jesus heard this he marveled and said to those who followed him saying, truly I tell you with no one in Israel have I found such faith. Okay, that part's a similar one. And now it says, I tell you many will come from east and west and will recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.
What's that all about? Many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in.
The kingdom of heaven.
Now big picture here, Gentile servant, probably with a Gentile master, I see the other way around, a Gentile centurion with most likely a Gentile slave asks Jesus for help. And now what happens? Well, you know what, while the elders say that I'm worthy, I'm not worthy.
I know about your holiness and for certain I'm a Gentile and I know you don't want to come into my house, so don't come inside. And Jesus says, by the way, people like you, Gentile, I'm not just going to even walk into.
Your house.
There's going to be a kingdom and we're going to be at the table together. Yes, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but with me, you don't want me to even go into your.
House.
You're going to be at my table with me, close fellowship. The future is going to have a great meal as it were to all those who believe Jews and Gentile, the messianic banquet of all banquets. Where are my notes when I need them?
Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the lamb. And he said to me, these are true words, Revelation 19. Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God. What's heaven like?
What's fellowship with Jesus like? What's it like to be face to face with the Lord Jesus? How would we describe it in words? There's some things you just simply can't describe with words. Gentiles even get there, not just Jews, but all those who trust in Jesus, Jew and Gentile.
So how do you describe heaven? Well, I don't know about you, but probably one of my favorite meals is the Christmas.
Meal.
Maybe you like Thanksgiving meal better. I think I like the Christmas meal the best. For us at Christmas, and this year will be wonderful because we've got plans for all the kids to be home and all the grandchildren.
So my four children, a daughter-in-law, a son-in-law, three grandchildren, and we'll all be around the table. And Kim, my wife, who's a five-star chef, will be so happy with all her brood there and she'll have all her specialties cooked and all the traditional foods cooked.
I go out to the grill, rain or snow or sleet or shine, and cook the best meat that we can get, tenderloins, filet mignon, and it'll probably be $300 a share. I always think to myself, kings cannot have a better cut of meat.
There'll be special sparkling cider and salads and butter galore, did I mention butter? And biscuits and homemade bread, and we have those English crackers that you pop open and you have a hat in there and a little toy in there.
There'll be laughter, there'll be fellowship, there'll be family, camaraderie, Frank Sinatra music in the background. I mean, could it get any better? Isn't that the best that we could have on earth is family and friends and camaraderie and taste buds and best food that we can afford?
And so Jesus uses a special meal as a foretaste of how great heaven will be. If Christmas meal is the best of the best, how much greater is heaven going to be? All the kids home, all the grandkids home, I love it.
What if Jesus was going to be there? What if Jesus was attending the Abendroth Christmas meal? Well, here's the good news for all believers. The Abendroths and all believers will be attending the meal that Jesus hosts.
And we see that kind of language, the marriage supper of the lamb, fellowship, wonderful, blessing upon blessing. It's telegraphed in Isaiah 25, on this mountain, the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples, Jew and Gentile, centurions and the Gentiles here in this room, the one Gentile, a rich feast of food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food, full of marrow, of aged wine, well-refined, and he will swallow up on this mountain, the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations.
He will swallow up death forever. And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces. And the reproach of his people, he will take away from all the earth for the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day, behold, this is our God.
We've waited for him that he might save us. This is the Lord. We have waited for him. Let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me, Jesus said, in my father's house are many rooms.
If it were not so, what I have told you, that I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, that where I am, you may be also. Gentiles, Jews, all the elect of God, not just walking into the door, but reclining at table, wonderful.
And when those who had been sent returned to the house, Luke 7, 10, they found the servant well. All Jesus has to do is speak the word. Psalm 148, praise him, sun and moon, praise him. All you shining stars, praise him.
You have highest heavens and you waters above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the Lord for he commanded and they were created. You read the book of Genesis. It just, just say the word. God said, let there be light.
And there was what light. God said, let there be the expanse in the midst of the waters and let it separate the waters from the waters. It happened. God said, let the waters and the heavens be gathered together in one place and let the dry land appear.
And it was so. Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, fruit trees bearing fruit in which there is their seed each according to its kind. And it was so. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.
And he upholds the universe by the word of his power. What a passage. What a savior. Well, my name is Mike Gabendroth. I look at the clock and now it's not 27 minutes. It's 29. But I got so excited about who Jesus was.
I overshot my time. Those in Alaska, Belize and Wyoming.
Sorry about that.